At the Heart of Darkness
by Antj
Summary: Ghosts... Unwavering loyalty to their superiors and an adeptness for espionage make them the next generation of unconventional warfare. These shadow warriors are the Koprulu Sector's best and brightest, but at what price do these men and women serve?


_**Prologue**_

_21st Century..._

Earth was shrouded in conflict over the development of _**cybertechnology and genetic manipulation techniques**_ by private firms. The latter resulting in _**mutations ranging from enhanced senses to**_ _**advanced telepathy...**_

_November 22, 2229..._

The Earth's population had grown to an excess of 23 billion and had shown no sign of halting. In response to the destabilization of the world's economy, a new world order was created in the form of the United Powers League which would replace the obsolete United Nations.

The UPL controlled almost all of the world's resources, claiming it was an 'enlightened socialist' organization when it all actuality it was a totalitarian regime that often resorted to fascist tactics.

_Project Purification..._

The UPL embraced the philosophy of 'the divinity of mankind' and sought to remove any and all signs of _**mutations and cybernetics**_ from the human population. UPL troops were dispatched around the world, imprisoning the _**cybernetically enhanced**_, synthetics, _**mutants**_, and other criminals. Although 400 million people were killed in the process, the UPL covered it up completely, hiding it from the rest of the population, making it the biggest cover-up in the history of mankind.

During this time, the UPL also developed a warp drive and cryonic technologies, opening the frontiers of space; within forty years, the UPL had founded colonies on the moon and other planets in the solar system.

UPL scientists also used their power to spark a huge _**evolution in the human**_ _**race**_ in the form of _**drug enhancements, genetic purification, and emotion inhibitors and activator**_s, using human test subjects.

_The Long journey..._

During this time, a scientist named Doran Routhe intended to put thousands of prisoners into ships and send them to a distant, outlying planet _**Many of these prisoners were prey to the mutations that had spanned the human species**_

40,000 prisoners were loaded into 4 supercarriers and put into cold sleep. The lead vessel contained ATLAS, a revolutionary AI. During the journey, ATLAS discovered something unusual about it's passengers - _**A relatively high proportion of them had a mutation leading to psionic potential**_. While currently weak, _**it would manifest in only a few generations...**_

The prison ships missed it's target, and were sent 60,000 light years into deep space, ending up in a region known as the Koprulu_** Sector**_ where three colonies were founded: _Umoja_, _Moria_, and _Tarsonis_.

_Civil War..._

Tarsonis, being the most technologically advanced of the three, soon established an interstellar government which they called the Terran Confederacy. In response to this, the Morians formed the Kel-Morian Combine in order to protect their mining interests across the sector. Tensions between these two organizations would soon lead to _**war...**_

The Confederacy would ultimately come out victorious, negotiating a peace treaty that allowed Moria to keep it's independence. Eventually, Moria founded new mining operations, and in doing so provided The Confederacy with a large amount of wealth, making the Morians themselves immune to Confederate law in the process.

_A New Power..._

About 10 years before the Guild Wars, The Terran Confederacy established a secret program which would take children showing signs of psionic powers and put some or all into the program It is unknown what happened to children who were either not selected for this program or who didn't graduate. The subjects were exposed to neural processing treatments which included _**neuro-adjusters**_ which controlled the subject's memories, _**neural inhibitors **_which weakens their powers, _**aggression inhibitors**_ which prevented violence towards superiors, complete_** mind-wiping, **_and_** mental conditioning, **_among other techniques.

This program would ultimately produce _**highly trained, completely loyal, elite special operations forces with psionic abilities.**_

_**Otherwise known as Ghosts...**_

* * *

_**2497, Somewhere far beyond Confederate explored space...**_

Captain Ian Douglas of the _TCS Clemente_ walked into his bridge in a furor.

"Damnit, I was very busy so this better be good!" He snarled at Commander Donnelly, his second in command.

In fact, Capt. Douglas was very busy, briefing the top brass at High Command on Tarsonis of their progress. Almost a year ago, a cloaked probe of unknown origin was intercepted on the outskirts of Confederate space. The only thing that Confederate scientists could discern from the probe was that the technology was far superior to that of their own.

In response, High Command dispatched one Behemoth-class Command Battlecruiser to investigate the origin of this probe. Because of the nature of this this mission, it was kept top secret and only a handful of Generals and Admirals were in the know. The technologies, the communications, the orders, all of it was comprehensively off the record.

"Talk to me Donnelly!" Captain Douglas yelled at the woman.

_**5 minutes earlier... **_

"How are those scans looking Norton?" Commander Donnelly asked the young man at the panel.

"We have nothing so far ma'am, no planets, asteroids, or systems." He replied.

"Alright Rob--"

"Commander!" Sub-Lieutenant Robert Norton interrupted. "We're picking up an anomaly on scanners, it isn't natural."

"Put it on screen Rob." She said to her third in command and good friend. In fact, her and Norton had been very close before they took posts on the same ship which had a strict non-fraternization policy.

Following orders, Norton brought the viewscreen to life, showing a black ocean of emptiness, lit only by distant stars.

"I don't see anything." She said.

"Hold on..."

The screen flickered again as it switched to a different camera and suddenly, on the viewscreen, a medium sized ship of unknown origin appeared out of nowhere.

"Get the Captain." She mumbled. No one responded, still staring towards the viewscreen at the outlandish looking ship.

"I said get the Captain!" She yelled.

"_Crsh._ Captain Douglas please report to the Bridge, I repeat, Captain Douglas you are needed on the Bridge." Sub-Lieutenant Norton said over the ship-wide intercom.

"Open hailing frequencies..." Donnelly ordered. "Attention unidentified vessel, this is the _TCS_ _Clemente_, please respond." There was no response.

"I repeat, this is the Confederate starship _Clemente_, please respond." Still nothing.

"This is the Confederate Starship _Clemente_, if you approach our vessel, we will be forced to defend ourselves." The alien vessel came to a halt about 5 kilometers off.

"Where is the Captain!" Donnelly yelled.

"Commander."  
"What!" She snapped.

"Commander!" Norton repeated, pointing back to the viewscreen. "I'm picking up major power fluctuations coming from the vessel."

"What is it?" She asked.

"I... I can't tell." Norton said. "Wait, we're receiving a communication."

"Put it on speaker." She said. "And where the hell is Douglas?!"

Norton put the transmission on speaker. The entire Bridge crew stood silent, listening intently. Donnelly could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand at the sound of the very deep, very alien, and very intimidating voice.

"What does it mean..." One of the Bridge crew said.

"I... Get me Douglas!" Donnelly yelled, getting more frustrated by the minute. Her Captain would often disappear somewhere in the ship with his communication device turned off.

"Damnit, this better be good!" Came a familiar voice.

"Talk to me Donnelly." Captain Douglas said.

"Sir." She said, pointing to the view screen and filling him in on the situation. Norton showed him a text of the transmission.

"Run it through the translation matrix." He ordered.

"Sir, those power fluctuations are growing..." Norton reported.

"Captain I advise we--" Donnelly cut herself off in mid-sentence.

On the viewscreen, a swirling azure cloud materialized below the unidentified vessel. The entire Bridge crew stared in awe as it expanded, and then branched off into 2 more clouds of the same design, and then those 2 clouds branched off into 4 more and then 8 more, until shapes started to manifest itself within the clouds. These shapes became more prominent as the clouds dissipated, it all happened within seconds.

They were now staring down 8 capital class ships.

"I... Sound battle stations... DO IT!" Captain Douglas yelled.

"Battle stations, battle stations... this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill." Norton said through the ship-wide intercom, putting the ship at alert in the process.

"Sir, we're receiving another communication." Sub-Lieutenant Norton reported.

"Norton, if it's not translated yet, I don't want to hear it." Douglas replied.

Several minutes passed and both sides were at a standstill.

"How are our warp engines looking?" Douglas asked.

"We'll be ready in 20 minutes." Ensign Beck replied.

"Damnit we don't have that long!" Douglas yelled.

"Power up the Yamato." Douglas ordered. "We need to buy ourselves some time."

"But Captain, they haven't shown any hostile intent yet!" Donnelly yelled.

"What do you think calling in warships is Commander?!" He snapped.

"Do it, and get me Lieutenant Trent, I want our fighters in the air and ready to go asap. Mathers, get me all weapons online and ready to go, Beck, get the damage control teams ready to go and alert security teams to repel any boarders, and I want my damn engines online NOW!" His crew complied and immediately went to work.

In the middle of the Bridge stood Douglas, Donnelly, and Norton, arched over a holographic tactical display of their ship and 10 kilometers around it in all directions. Eight massive ships as big as their own Battlecruiser sat idle, surrounding the smaller medium sized ship that had called them in.

"Sir, I'm receiving another message." Norton said, going back to his console.

"Translated?" Douglas asked.

"No sir." Norton replied.

"Damnit... Put it on." Douglas asked.

What followed was the most deep bloodcurdling, disturbing, outlandish voice Douglas had ever heard in his life.

"Activate the Yamato cannon. Aim for the ship in the center and wait for my command." Douglas ordered coldly.

"Sir, shouldn't we contact Tarsonis?" Donnelly asked eagerly.

"No, this mission is top secret, what happens here, stays here, got it?" He ordered.

The ship hummed a little from the tremendous energy that the weapon was siphoning from secondary systems and the bow of the ship lit up as it charged for firing.

"Sir we're receiving another communication." Norton said.

"I don't want to hear it." Douglas said.

"You're making a mistake!" Donnelly cried out.

"The Yamato Cannon is standing by, awaiting your orders sir." Norton stated.

"Captain!" Donnelly yelled.

"FIRE!"

The ship vibrated more heavily this time as the mammoth weapon discharged it's load and at the speed of light the massive bolt of energy ripped a gaping hole into one of the alien capital ships in an impressive display of pyrotechnics. Secondary explosions caused the ship to further break apart as atmosphere as well as humanoid bodies leaked out into the vacuum. On the viewscreen, the other 7 ships went into formation and advanced on the _TCS Clemente_.

"How long till our warp engines are on line?" Douglas ordered.

"Approximately 10 minutes sir." Ensign Beck replied.

As the alien ships came into range, it launched smaller fighters which then swarmed towards the _Clemente_ in the hundreds.

"I want all laser batteries, autocannons, missile tubes, and point-defense systems online RIGHT NOW!" Douglas yelled.

The small fighter craft let loose an enormous volley of blue pulse energy weapons that smacked into the ship's reactive neosteel armor protecting the hull integrity of the ship. As they came closer however, autocannons blared in each and every directions mowing down alien craft, point-defense systems shot out short bursts of lasers that further reduced the number of interceptor craft swarming the Battlecruiser.

The main laser batteries took aim at the advancing carrier and fired rapidly on the fleet, but the ships were protected by impenetrable shields this time. Missiles were let loose from the Clemente's missile tubes directed at the Carrier formation, but were cut down by point-defense systems or interceptor craft, and the ones that did make it slammed into the shield, causing no effect to the hull of the alien ships.

"Where are my damn fighters!" Douglas yelled.

"Captain, this is Lieutenant Trent, need a little help?" The comm replied.

"Lt Trent has 3 fighter squadrons launching as we speak." Norton said.

The 4 hangars of the Battlecruiser came to life as 32 CF/A-17 Wraith-class starfighters took to the vacuum to defend their ship against the hundreds of small interceptor drone ships. A massive battle ensued as more and more drones launched from the 7 carriers and due to the sheer numbers started to overtake the Wraith squadrons. Lasers, missiles, and projectiles sped through the battle space, creating utter confusion that would've overwhelmed any novice Wraith pilot.

"Stay out of the Clemente's crossfire damnit!" Lieutenant Trent yelled to his squadrons.

"There are just too many of them! I ca---" A pilot screamed.

"Damnit, Taylor, take your wing and defend the Yamato gun, the drones are making a run for it!" Trent yelled.

"There are too many of them, we'll get spotted and taken out immediately if we break formation!" Came Taylor's reply.

"Are your cloaks operational?" Trent asked.

"Copy that, C-squadron your with me!" Taylor ordered.

The superior, but limited Wraiths cut down waves of interceptor drones, but they just kept coming. Taylor and his squad swooped down towards the front of the _Clemente_, guns blazing and enshrouded by their cloaking mechanism, and wreaked havoc on the drones that were shooting away at the exposed underbelly of the charging Yamato cannon.

Autocannons and point-defense lasers did little to stem the onslaught of the never-ending horde of drones, but it mattered little as the carriers got in range and let loose a massive volley of energy weapons from their main guns. Drones were now the least of their worries.

"Sir we have hull breach on decks 12, 15, 22, and 30!"

"I want that Yamato cannon back up!" Douglas yelled.

"It's charging now sir!" Norton yelled.

The powerful laser batteries of the _Clemente_ concentrated it's fire on one Carrier that showed a weakening in shields and the invisible blue forcefield started to give way. Missiles streaked through the vacuum and penetrated the weakening shields, causing massive damage to their hull.

"Yamato cannon is fully charged and at 100 percent!" Norton yelled.

"FIRE!" Came Douglas' order. Norton input the command to fire just as his console exploded and showered him with sparks, knocking him back and setting him aflame. The cannon fired and the ship shook heavily and as the massive gun discharged it's load. Donnelly rushed to Norton's aid and extinguished the flame, giving a nasty look at her Captain who ignored her.

The Carrier's shields illuminated as the energy beam completely disregarded the blue forcefield and tore through the hull and into the stern area. A massive explosion followed as the engines ignited and destroyed the entire rear section of the Carrier, rendering it immobile and dead in the water. The functional laser batteries and missile tubes finished off what was left of it, leaving no survivors.

Seconds after firing, the forward section of the Clemente became riddled with secondary explosions and started to break off from the rest of the ship. Seeing this, the remaining Carriers diverted their fire to the vulnerable area and their interceptor drones made suicide runs into it. Human bodies were sucked into the vacuum, some were torn apart by autocannon fire, and others were impacted by Drones or Wraiths.

"Sir... I..." Norton had blood streaming down his head and part of his face was severely burned.

"Robbie! Stay with me!" Donnelly yelled. "Medical team report to the bridge, medical team to the bridge!" She yelled into her comm.

"Sir... the communication." The ship continued to shake violently as more explosions took the ship and The bridge was almost consumed in fire now. Commander Donnelly held Norton tight in her arms.

"Sir... The communication reads..." He went unconscious. Donnelly looked at his console and went pale.

"Donnelly report!" Douglas yelled. Donnelly gave him a chastising look.

"Captain Douglas!---"

Donnelly was cut off by an explosion and fire shot out, engulfing her and Sub-Lieutenant Norton, they died instantly.

Captain Douglas struggled to his feet and went over to the comm panel, still curious to see what the message said. When he got there, the screen was still intact, and with a press of the button, the translation appeared.

"This is the Protoss Vessel _Antioch_, you are trespassing in Protoss space, we request that you divert course immediately..."

"This is the Protoss Vessel _Antioch_, defense forces are being called in, if you do not abandon this sector, we will use hostile force to defend ourselves..."

"This is the Protoss vessel _Antioch_, we are sensing a buildup of power in your weapons systems. We implore you to reconsider your actions, we are not your enemy..."

"Oh my god..." Douglas muttered.

The _Clemente's_ warp engine detonated and secondary explosions further caused the _Clemente_ to break apart. No longer recognizable as a Battlecruiser, but a wreckage of scrap metal and dead bodies, she drifted aimlessly in the never-ending void of space.

The _TCS Clemente_ perished with all hands and the 30,000 lost souls were forgotten, thousands of light-years from their homes...

* * *

_**2497, Somewhere on the outskirts of the Fringe Worlds...**_

Captain Blane of Epsilon squadron walked to the bridge of the _TCS Minerva_, an Explorer-class Science vessel, and was greeted by his bridge crew who were awfully cheerful today.

The _Minerva_ was apart of a taskforce with 2 other Science vessels that were dispatched to the area to conduct scientific experiments on organisms called Xenomorphs. They were assigned by Rear Admiral Godfrey and sworn to secrecy. While Blane did not know the reasons for such secrecy, he was happy to be of service to the Confederacy.

"Good morning Captain." Commander Hutton greeted.

"Good morning Jed, can I get a status report?" Blane asked. Hutton was his brother-in-law and they had been friend since their days in the academy.

"We've lost contact with the _Mikhail_ and the _Crane_, but they have been going comm quiet on and off all day for some reason. They said it was something to do with the experiments and that they had it under control. " Hutton reported. "Also, Colonel Jeffrey down in the labs have been making progress on their animals, and so far scans have shown nothing."

"Ah, so a pretty boring day overall then eh?" Blane joked.

"Yes sir."

All Blane had been told was that some top priority scientific experiments were being done with animals and that his vessel would be needed. Information on why they were performing these experiments or why the Colonel was put in charge was a little above his pay grade.

- - -

_**Deck 12, Science Lab.**_

"Has the enzyme taken effect yet?" Colonel Jeffrey asked his partner.

"No sir, they aren't responding." Morris replied.

"Try activating the emitter again." Jeffrey ordered.

Morris walked to the other side of the room and activated the psi emitter. As soon as he did that, the small dog-sized, crab-like xenomorph went wild, trying to break out of it's cage.

"I see..." Jeffrey mumbled, writing on his notepad

"The chemical reaction is completely halted by it's immune system, we can't control it, it's impossible." Morris said, defeated. "The only way is through the psi emitters."

"Or..." Jeffrey said, an idea clicking in his mind.

"You mean..." Morris said.

"Yes, we've hit a breakthrough I believe my good Morris, I think it's time to celebrate." Jeffrey said enthusiastically.

"You think they'll give us the subjects?" Morris asked.

"Those Confederate politicians will give us anything we wish for. We'll have many subjects to choose from as well as, finally, our own planetary installation!" Colonel Jeffrey said, breaking open a bottle of wine he had been hiding in the chem fridge.

While celebrating, Jeffrey put in a communication to High Command with their findings.

"I oughta get promoted for this." Morris said.

"I will put you up for one, cheers." Jeffrey said, taking another drink.

_THUMP! CRACK! _Morris and Jeffrey looked back to the cage and saw a gaping hole in the steel bars and the xenomorph subject was missing.

"Damnit Morris, you left the emitter on you fool!" Colonel Jeffrey yelled.

"I'm sorry! I didn't---" Morris was cut of when, out of nowhere, the crab-like beast jumped on him and started clawing at his chest wildly, blood spattering everywhere.

Stunned by watching his comrade being torn to shreds, Colonel Jeffrey froze.

"No..n- n- no.. ple--- nooo AHHH!---" The xenomorph jumped him and ripped his neck open.

"Colonel!"

One of his assistants walked into the room, witnessed the gruesome death of his superior, and ran to sound the alarm, but before he could gett to it, the xenomorph jumped him from behind and clawed at his back, ripping into the tender flesh with it's sharp claws. The assistant screamed in pain as the xenomorph ripped further into his body, tearing into his internal organs, all the while he was still alive and screaming in anguish.

_5 hours later..._

"Hey Jed, have you had any contact with the Colonel since he sent up that Comm package we sent to High Command?" Captain Blane asked.

"No, I don't think so, but then again, they aren't required to check up every other hour, why do you ask?"

"No reason, I just had a bad feeling is all."

"Sir, I'm picking something on scanners." Ensign Emily Downer reported.

Downer brought the viewscreen to life and showed her Captain numerous blips on the screen, first it started as 2, then it escalated into 20, then into 100 and then thousands of blips appeared on their scanners.

"How far?" Blane demanded.

"2 kilometers and closing fast." She replied.

"Alright, bring power online, get the _Mikhail_ and _Crane_ on the Comm." He ordered.

"Sir, we still don't have contact with them." Jed said.

"You said that 5 hours ago! How did you not report that they were still out of contact?!" Blane snapped. "Bring the autocannons online."

The vessel was armed with a few autocannons, but nowhere near enough to repel any real attack. Their defenses were mediocre at best.

"Get Colonel Jeffrey, we're getting out of here now." Blane said.

"Sir... I can't raise anyone in the labs... or anywhere else on the ship for that matter." Ensign Downersaid.

"There are a thousand people on this ship, get me someone somewhere!" He yelled. "Bring up internal scanners Jed."

Jed brought up the internal scanners on the viewscreen and the Bridge quieted immediately.

"No signs of human life..." Jed said slowly.

"What are those blips then?" Ensign downer asked.

"They're... um... unknown." Jed said at almost a whisper.

_THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!_ The Bridge door clanked and thumped loudly as something was desperately trying to get in.

"Don't open it!" Jed yelled. "Stay away from the door! It's an unknown organism."

Blane approached the door and looked through the window. What he saw was one of his crewmen badly injured and bleeding profusely, but the most disquieting thing about him was the inhuman growths protruding from his back that looked like claws.

"What the hell did they let on my ship..." Blane mumbled

"Sir, unidentified objects are heading towards the ship. Defense systems are not responding!" Jed yelled.

Blane looked back out the window and 4 crab-like dog-sized monstrous looking animals ran towards the door and started ripping through the steel and killing the deformed crewman in the process. The door started to give away as their sharp claws broke holes into the steel frame.

"What is it?!" "Oh my god!" "What do we do!" Members of the Bridge crew panicked.

"Jed. Get me the self-destruct commands." He ordered to his second in command.

The ship started to shake wildly as the unidentified objects on the outside fired upon it. More and more bug like creatures piled at the door and tried to get in.

"Your code sir." Jed asked.

"Alpha-Charlie-1-3-9-2-Foxtrot" Blane responded.

"Awaiting your command." Jed said. The Bridge crew stared at Blane in anticipation.

"Wait... No..." Blane said. _A minute passed in silence._

_THUNK!_ "ROOAAWWRR!!" The creatures finally made it inside and jumped the crew, those who tried to escape were chased down and ripped apart. The rest hid behind their consoles and prayed.

"EXECUTE! EXECUTE!" Blane yelled. Nothing happened. Blane looked up and saw that Jed's severed head was lying on his terminal and his body was being clawed on by one of those animals. Blane tried to reach the panel to hit the self-destruct, but it was no use as he was then jumped by 2 of the creatures and they sliced into his torso and clawed on his arm until it tore off. His cries for help went unheeded.

The Bridge became a bloodbath as the crew desperately tried to fight off the creatures, but to no avail, they sliced, clawed, tore, and ripped through human flesh and bone. The men and women of the Bridge crew screamed, loud dreadful screams of agony and torture.

_But in space, no one can hear you scream..._

* * *

_- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _

_The future looked grim for humanity as the threat of hostile forces loomed on the horizon of Terran borders. However, they still continued with their petty domestic squabbles for power and wealth, oblivious to the oncoming reckoning. Humanity had unknowingly sowed the seeds of their own doom, but they had been doing that for a millennia. No matter where they went or what they did, it seemed, their violent past would always catch up to them._

_This time, however they had a secret weapon up their sleeve, a weapon that was more than formidable for the encroaching threat, a weapon that was the epitome of human depravity, a weapon that had been kept a secret from civilization, a weapon that would ultimately give them a fighting chance in the face of oncoming total annihilation..._

_The day of judgment for humanity in the Koprulu Sector was upon them and the trumpets of doom were playing freely..._


End file.
